By Megan Leonhardt

What goes up... All three major indexes fell on Wednesday, with S&P500 and Nasdaq Composite Index snapping a two-week streak of positive returns.

The S&P fell 0.7%, while the Nasdaq dropped 0.9%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 617 points, or 1.2%.

Much of the downturn was due to oil trending higher again after the escalation in hostilities between the U.S. and Iran.

Big tech stocks -- especially Nvidia, Amazon, Microsoft, and Apple -- also created a big drag on the major indexes.

Tariffs uncertainty was back in play today as well. The Trump administration proposed 10% to 12.5% tariffs targeting 60 countries as a result of a probe into forced labor practices under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974. Additionally, the Justice Department is appealing some of the refunds that Customs & Border Protection is in the process of returning. My colleague Reshma tackled all of the latest developments, which you can read about here.

The Hot Stock: Texas Pacific Land Corp. +9.7% The Biggest Loser: Lumentum Holdings -8.2%

Best Sector: Energy +1.4% Worst Sector: Information Technology -1.5%

Green Shoots in the Labor Market

Employment data appears to be delivered long-promised blooms. The U.S. added 122,000 jobs to private payrolls in May, according to the ADP National Employment Report released Wednesday morning. That's the highest level of monthly job growth logged since January 2025 , up from the revised 105,000 positions added in April.

The results were largely in line with expectations and help support forecasts that the non-farm payrolls report later this week will show the U.S. added 105,000 jobs across both the public and private sector in May. The Bureau of Labor Statistics releases the employment data at 8:30 a.m. Eastern on Friday.

Perhaps more important than the strong payroll growth, though, is the fact that ADP's data show hiring grew more broad-based last month.

Healthcare continued to dominate job growth in the private sector, but others also showed gains. The trade, transportation and utilities sector, for example, added 57,000 jobs in May. Professional and business services also gained 11,000 jobs, and construction added 8,000 jobs.

Job growth was also broad-based across employers of all sizes in May. Previously, small businesses had been leading the charge over the past few months.

It's a lot of good job news, and it's likely enough to keep Federal Reserve officials on pause at the upcoming June 16-17 meeting as they wait for signs on whether the recent uptick in inflation will prove persistent.

The Calendar

Brown-Forman, Ciena, Cooper Cos., DocuSign, Lululemon Athletica, Planet Labs, and Samsara report quarterly results tomorrow.

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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

June 03, 2026 19:55 ET (23:55 GMT)

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